Adventures in Teaching Kids How to Code

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Month: September 2017

Recently we were able to support the Scottish Library Information Council (SLIC) in promoting Code Club to libraries across Scotland, a project they financed through a grant from the Digital Xtra Fund.

Venue scouting

At Code Club, our aim is to ensure all young people have the skills, confidence, and opportunity to shape their world. In order to increase the chances that every child can attend a local Code Club, we are continually looking for new types of venues that can run clubs. To help us with our mission, from time to time we get the opportunity to cooperate with key organisations that share our aims.

The Scottish Library & Information Council

One such organisation is SLIC, and we have enjoyed working with the SLIC team over the last six months. With support from our Regional Coordinator for Scotland, Lorna Gibson, two SLIC project officers organised a tour of training events at which library staff got to experience Code Club, with a view to giving them the confidence to start their own club. The team travelled around all of Scotland, running sessions in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, and Western Isles.

Gillian Daly, Head of Policy and Projects at SLIC, said:

“The ‘Code Club in libraries’ project has been very successful: 74 library Code Clubs have already been established as a result of it, with at least another 57 on the way. There has been lots of enthusiasm for Code Club from library staff, who have found the ready-to-use Code Club projects great fun to work through in the library.

The public library network stretches the length and breadth of the country, providing access to technology and the internet across communities. This means that libraries are ideal Code Club venues, and we are keen for all of our branches to host clubs in the future.

Over 150 library staff members across Scotland have been trained to help make this happen. We’d also like to work with volunteers to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to take part in a Code Club.”

Start a Code Club

If you’d like to start a Code Club in your library, find out more about hosting a Code Club here. And if you’d like to meet fellow Code Club volunteers and learn more from their experience, you can look for a local event on our events page.

We’re excited to announce that we are launching three new benefits for Code Clubs that register and activate on our site!

Welcome packs

In July, we sent end-of-term packs to clubs across the country. We didn’t want new clubs to miss out, so now each new club that activates on our site will receive an email offering them a welcome pack including top tips, stickers, and posters for the club space.

Code Club welcome pack

Competitions

Starting this autumn, we’ll be running regular competitions which activated clubs can enter. We’ll send out an email with details soon, so if your club is activated on our website, be sure to check your inbox for news and a chance to win great stuff for your club. You’ve got to be in it to win it!

News and updates

Activated clubs can expect to see us popping up in their inbox regularly, as we’ll be sending roundups of new projects, resources, and blog posts — and of course details about competitions.

How to get active

These benefits will be exclusively for those clubs who are registered and active on our website.

Activating your club is as easy as one, two, three:

The venue host registers the club.

The venue host adds a volunteer using their Club Hub.

The club is activated!

If you would like some help to get your club activated, drop us a line at support@codeclub.org.uk. And if you’re new to Code Club and you’d like to get involved, find out how to start a club.

For the past seven years as a Computing at School (CAS) Lead School, the Computing Faculty at The Chase has been working with primary and secondary schools across Worcestershire to inspire teachers and children to get excited about coding and digital making. John Palmer, Faculty Leader for Computing & Business at The Chase, explains the role Code Club plays for students of both primary and secondary ages.

Code Club and The Chase

One project that The Chase has enthusiastically supported is Code Club, which is supported in Malvern by STEM Ambassadors from local organisations such as Key IQ, borwell, QinetiQ, UTC Aerospace Systens, and Malvern Instruments.

Malvern now has one of the highest concentrations of Code Clubs in primary schools anywhere in the UK, and the Malvern Code Club community has grown rapidly — there are a large number of volunteers, educators, parents, and young people who make Code Club possible. We have seen how having a club has helped primary schools adapt to the challenges of the new computing curriculum. Moreover, we are starting to see the impact of Code Club in skilling up and enthusing the next generation of students. It has led to a large number of students studying GCSEs in Computer Science at The Chase, and to both staff and students running a range of computer science STEM activities and clubs, which see a huge demand from students.

Code Club for secondary ages

Starting in September, The Chase is one of the first schools in the UK to set up a new secondary school Code Club for students Years 7 and 8 following the official expansion of the Code Club programme.

Supporting the Chase Secondary Code Club will be STEM Ambassador and Engineer Nick Howden from UTC Aerospace Systems. UTC Aerospace support a number of STEM Activities at The Chase, including a STEM activity day in July for Year 8 students, which included a range of activities involving Spheros and based on coding, engineering, and robotics. Nick says:

“We are delighted to be involved in what is a superb opportunity for students at The Chase. It will give us access to new educational resources, which we hope be interesting and exciting and meet the needs of older club members and more experienced coders. The activities help students develop a wide range of skills in addition to coding, such as teamwork, problem-solving, and creativity, all of which are vital to their future success.”

This will give our students further opportunities to develop skills vital in the 21st century, and we must thank Code Club and UTC Aerospace for their support with this. Chase STEM students really are the next generation of Malvern’s brilliant brains which will ultimately enable the UK to innovate in the global marketplace.

A message from the team at Code Club

We’ve recently extended the Code Club age range to include secondary school ages up to 13, increasing the reach of our support and projects to more students, schools, and volunteers across the world.

If you’d like to start a Code Club in your school, or dedicate time to volunteering in the UK, check out our website.

Want to find out about Code Clubs across the globe? Head to Code Club International for information on your nearest partner.